Problematic Roller Coasters - Top Thrill Dragster Review & Technical Analysis - Cedar Point

warning some viewers may be too lame to enjoy the following information the coaster that breaks every high end speed barrier is here Top Thrill Dragster it's the fastest at zero to 120 miles per hour in four seconds it's the tallest at 420 feet the first and only strata coaster on earth is now open Cedar Point 16 coaster Top Thrill Dragster want to go got the guts Cedar Point absolutely amazing well it used to be the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster in 2003 now it's just a tallest and fastest in Ohio if that matters well I guess it does since Ohio seems to be the unofficial roller coaster capital of the United States besides Florida or California now even though top field dragster is not the tallest or fastest roller coaster anymore its stats still don't disappoint the ride stands 420 feet tall and reaches speeds of 120 miles per hour and just 3.8 seconds this video will mark the first official episode of my new series problematic roller coasters I have added my two prior videos about Mr Freeze and Batman and Robin the chiller to the series as well be sure to check out those videos after this one if you haven't already when Top Thrill Dragster opened it featured very revolutionary roller coaster technology it's hydraulic launch system was so ahead of its time that the rides manufacturer intimate amusement rides actually discontinued the model altogether with this revolutionary launch system came lots of technical hiccups that still affect the rides performance to this day in this video we'll be discussing top Hill dragsters ride experience as well as some of its technical flaws Top Thrill Dragster is a very complex ride and I often find that many coaster enthusiasts seem to misunderstand how the ride truly works so I'll try to address all those aspects in this video let's dig in Top Thrill Dragster was absolutely mind-boggling when it opened in 2003 at this point in time the roller coaster wars were still in full swing parks continuously tried to build bigger and better record-breaking roller coasters each and every year Cedar Point had already built several world's tallest and fastest roller coasters the park had opened millennium forests which debuted as the world's tallest and fastest full circuit roller coaster just a few years prior in 2000 while Millennium was certainly jaw-dropping when it opened it wasn't technically the world's tallest or fastest roller coaster a Superman the escape at Six Flags Magic Mountain stood taller and traveled seven miles per hour faster than millennium well in 2003 Cedar Point truly took the height and speed record when they opened Top Thrill Dragster which stood five feet taller than Superman he escaped and traveled 20 miles per hour faster and on top of that it was a full circuit roller coaster while Superman was only a shuttle roller coaster the ride is themed to a top fuel dragster which famously accelerates at very high speeds in very short periods of time the only difference is that Top Thrill Dragster accelerates into a 420 foot tall vertical top hat while a traditional top fuel dragster slams on the brakes after hitting top speed the placement of the ride is perfect as well directly in the center of the park guests are able to walk alongside the rides launch track and watch train after train accelerate to speeds of 120 miles per hour the overall theme and placement of the ride is miles better than king dhaka a very similar rollercoaster that operates at Six Flags Great Adventure which stole dragsters height and speed records in 2005 because of king naka Cedar Point no longer advertises dragsters the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster but as the original Strada roller coaster shadow roller coasters are rise between the height of 400 and 499 feet tall but I'm not really sure if dragsters the original strata a Superman the escape broke 400 feet in 1996 but oh well dragsters the better ride riders enter the rides cue line which begins directly under the rides launch track the cue line is a maze of concrete switchbacks that sits directly between the rides launch and break run the cue line features little theming but the station building is really nice router's board into one of the six trains featured on the ride but the ride only operates five trains at most I'll get more into that later in the video as I know exactly why that is you're listening to a former ride operator of topo dragster the ride features a very similar seat and restraint system Timonium force the seat belt in a t-bar saud lap bar hold riders into the Train this leads to a very open experience which I find is one of the rides best features to trains at a time are dispatched from the load station to improve the attractions hourly rider capacity both trains and enter the launch area the park has an audio system that plays sound effects of dragster engines idling and revving as the trains prepare to launch once it's your turn to launch your train begins to roll backwards a few inches as the hundreds of brake fins that lined the launch track drop after a brief moment the Train begins accelerating down the launch track top field track Sears launch is a rare experience for people to accelerate that quickly in such a short amount of time the ride hits 120 miles per hour in just 3.8 seconds an acceleration that not even some of the world's best cars are capable now a real top fuel dragster will hit speeds of over 300 miles per hour on just about the same amount of time but I still think top fuel dragster nails it if you really want to experience something like an actual top fuel dragster try out dota don't but in Japan which accelerates from zero to 112 miles per hour in just 1.6 seconds I've actually written dota dopa and call me crazy but I still prefer dragsters launch in dota dopest dota don't buzz certainly more intense but it's also so short that you basically can't even comprehend which has happened whereas dragster gives you just enough time to process everything and to really appreciate what it's doing to your body anyways dragster finishes accelerating and reaches its top speed of 120 miles per hour if you're sitting in the front rows the wind hurdling at your face is absolutely crazy the speed just feels so insane the ride continues down the straight track for another brief moment of time and then begins to ascend the tower I love pulling up into the tower as riders are slammed with a good dose of positive g-forces even though the radius of the pullout is probably 200 feet the train is traveling so fast the g-forces are unavoidable the Train is now traveling upwards at 90 degrees as it rotates counterclockwise to 90 degrees the Train begins to crest over the top of the 420 foot tall top hat if you're sitting in the front of the Train you'll receive a good dose of airtime here depending on how fast the ride is running the train will either fly over the top or crawl over the top the riders program so that it crests the top hat at just a few miles per hour if you're lucky the ride will not make it over the top hat and will come flying back down the tower and when it's called a rollback the Train begins falling at a 90 degree angle back towards the ground and rotates through a 270 degree clockwise heartline roll the roll is quick and rotates faster and faster as the Train accelerates towards the ground if you're sitting in the back rows the air time from the drop continues all the way through the spiral making this one of the craziest drops average the ride completes the roll and hits a tight pull out where the Train levels back out and delivers some strong positive g-forces the Train continues to hurtle down a straight section of track at very high speed and then crosses the finish line where the train hits a very long magnetic brake run but safely and smoothly brings the train to a stop overall Top Thrill Dragster has to be one of the most shocking these shortest coasters ever while it's height and speed are no joke the ride is laughably short and most kiddie roller coasters offer a longer ride experience but few roller coasters offer the crazy heightened speed that dragster does dragster already cost so much money to build that making it any longer would have just made it even more expensive top dog tracks there's a favorite ride amongst many roller coaster fans and it's absolutely one of the better coasters at Cedar Point now it's not my favorite roller coaster throughout the park and I don't rank the coaster extremely high in my favorite roller coasters overall but it's a must ride attraction that truly rivals the experience delivered by more traditional roller coasters now let's dig into the more technical side of the video the complexity of Top Thrill Dragster absolutely comes at a cost and that cost is downtime dragster spends a good amount of it's a time closed rather than operating this is due to the number of additional sensors and components that the ride must use in order to monitor itself for instance each of the rides brake fins possess two sensors that monitor and control the position of each brake fin and there are hundreds of brake fins that line the launch track which means even more sensors if any one of those sensors stops working the computer will catch an error and the ride can shut down because of this dragster has a higher chance of closing than a ride that possesses far less sensors so whenever you see the ride closed it's often for small hiccups like such as the system that runs dragster is very safe and very complex but I think this is more common knowledge so let's dig in deeper to the misunderstandings that many seem to have with the ride something that most people seem to get backwards about Top Thrill Dragster is that empty trains actually require more speed to clear the tower than fully loaded trains do now this is due to physics the launch motors are strong enough to launch train to the same exact speed regardless if they're loaded with riders or not but a heavier train will carry more momentum up the tower and slow down less than an empty train which carries less momentum it's the same reason why parks will load water dummies into trains during cold morning test runs heavier trains carry more momentum through the layout which makes completing the course more likely so the same concept applies to Top Thrill Dragster as the launch system will get the train up to speed regardless if it's loaded with riders or not during morning test runs the launch is basically calibrated to accelerate empty trains up and over the Tau because empty trains require more speed to clear the tower the first test run of the day will often roll back simply put this costs the computer to increase the launch speed to account for empty trains when the ride opens in the morning it is very common for operators to only load the first three cars of the Train many people often assume that this is to help the ride warm up or so that the launch motor can work its way up to launching trains faster and faster to account for additional weight but in reality the exact opposite is happening the process of loading more and more rows on Top Thrill Dragster is a part of speed reduction basically the parking out loaded train fully when the computer is adjusted to launch empty trains over the tower as the train would fly over the tower to fast and could possibly overshoot the final brake run which will cause a computer fault and shut down the ride so the park has to gradually load more and more riders onto the trains to gradually bring down the speed of the launch and this process takes time as the computer can only slowly adjust the launch speed between each cycle the way the right adjusts its launch speed is by timing how long it takes a train from when it begins launching to when the train crests the tower I can't remember the exact time but I believe the computer likes to keep this to around seven and a half seconds the computer will make micro adjustments to keep this time exactly the same or as close to it as it can as the rad reduces its launch speed operators will begin loading more and more rows this is because the launch speed is now low enough to allow a fully loaded train to crest the tower with proper timing now if operators were to suddenly launch an empty train at this point it would most likely rollback as the launch speed is reduced to a point where trains require weight to press the tower to counteract this dragster has a function called empty train enabled which basically will give an empty train an additional boost of speed so that it clears the tower this function can only be used when a train is empty as a fully loaded train would fly over the tower far too fast so don't ask your ride operator to turn this on as the answer will be affirm no and you will most likely annoy the ride operator and then will staple your lap we're closed another misunderstood idea with Top Fuel dragsters why it only runs 5 out of its 6 trains when dragster is originally being designed it was actually supposed to feature a longer launch track the launch track would have continued over the Midway near Magnum XL 200 and the top hat would be where Gemini stands today this would have required the removal of Gemini altogether however intamin was able to shorten the launch track by a considerable amount which leaves us with the dragster we have today this all cement that the brake run was shortened as a result the brake run ended up featuring a design flaw that effectively makes one of the rods block zones useless for those of you who are unfamiliar a block zone is a segment of track that only one train may occupy at a time at the end of a block zone is a method to stop a train to prevent it from moving forward into the next block that the block ahead is occupied this is the safety system that keeps roller coaster trains from colliding with each other Top Thrill Dragster was designed to have nine block sections the block segments are as follows unload station to unload station one load station to load station one the transfer track the launch track the brake run pulled brake to and hold brake one together these blocks sections would safely and efficiently allow dragster to run six trains however because the final brake Crenn was shortened an issue exists with where trains come to a full stop in certain scenarios dragster actually features the same design flaw that Millennium Force does where the brake run is too flat and features fixed magnetic brake fins that do not adjust to allow slow trains to pass through freely empty trains will come to a near stop much earlier than a fully loaded train will but as an upgrade over Millennium Force intamin added tire drives earlier in the brake runs and eight slow trains that creep through the magnetic fins to account for all scenarios these tires are not fixed in the upward position and their default is the lowered position where they do not come in contact with the Train this way when trains are running fast and fly through this portion of the brick run the trains do not drag against the tires which would likely cause damage to the trains and tire drive systems the tires only prop up once the Train has slowed down to acceptable speeds the later portion of the final brake run also features adjustable brake fins which do lower to allow trains to pass through freely once trains up slow to an acceptable speed now in order for a train to come to a full stop on dragster the train must come in contact with the tire drive as the magnetic brakes are not capable of fully stopping the train and the final brake run is sloped down where it's just slightly and doesn't become flat until the hole to block this way trains can always creep forward through the final brake run even if the adjustable brakes fail to lower and if the adjustable tire drives failed arrays this typically only happens whenever the ride has a computer error the issue with the final brake run is that does not possess any tire drives that are always fixed in the upward position every single tire drive before the hole the blocks is adjustable now this doesn't cause any issues when the ride is operating normally as the tires will always raise to catch a train and stop it if necessary but when the ride has an error or breaks down the computer system will automatically put the brake fins and tire drives in to their default positions this means the adjustable brake fins lock in the upwards position which slows trains and the adjustable tire drives on the final brake run blocking the downward position which means they do not come in contact with the Train when the tire drives are unable to come in contact with the Train trains will continue to crawl through the final brake run without stopping thus the final brake run is incapable of actually stopping a train and a train will come to a stop in hole two because of this the ride was reprogrammed to combine the main break in hole two positions into one block zone which dropped the number of blocks tones from nine to eight whenever the ride is placed in automatic mode this is the only mode that guests are allowed to ride it now a block still allows the ride to safely run all six trains but the elimination of that ninth block just means that six trains becomes very slow let me give you a scenario the ride has all six trains stacks this means we have two trains in the load platform two trains in the unload station and two trains and the hold brakes the ride features multi move or rolling blocks but it's not the same multi movement Millennium Force features where every single train seems to move at the same time instead trains begin moving one by one but the block ahead doesn't have to completely clear from the next train to begin motion because trains don't move completely simultaneously on top fill dragster this means it takes quite a bit of time for every single train to move forward now when the ride has nine blocks once the first train moves into the launch position the main brake block which is directly ahead is unoccupied so the Train is able to launch right away without any holdups but when that main brake block disappears the next block zone is now technically hold - since the train that moves into the launch track was the first train and begin movement that means it will reach the launch track way before the train and hole two begins moving forward as the train sitting in hole two is the last train and begin motion this causes the train to sit on the launch track wasting time while the trains ahead move forward to empty block zones so instead the park chooses to run five trains this way hole two is always open as only hold one will be occupied this means that when a train reaches the launch track it can now launch right away this actually leads to a higher hourly capacity than if the Park continued to run six trains and just to reiterate six train operations is still absolutely possible and is not a safety risk but the park chooses to run five trains due to the elimination of a block zone which makes five trains more efficient now there are drawbacks to only running five out of six trains dragster is unique in that in order to dispatch there are four trains that must be ready to move all at once this would be the two trains in the load station and the two trains in the unload station so the two trains in the load station must be fully loaded and ready to dispatch and the two trains in the unload station must be fully unloaded and ready to advance forward when their ride runs six trains the two trains in the load station are dispatched into the ride the two trains in the unload station advance directly into the load station and the two trains from the hold positions move forward into the unload station this means that both trains in the unload station have a fairly equal amount of time to unload but when the ride only runs five trains the situation is very different two trains will dispatch from the load station in advance forward the two trains in the unload station advance into the load station and only one train from the hold break advances into the unload station because the six train is on the transfer track this means that unload station two is unoccupied and is awaiting arrival of a train to unload and the train it's waiting on to arrive is the one sitting in the launch position that train will launch and begin heading towards the unload station this train will then park and unload - as the train behind it begins its launch sequence remember that two trains are dispatched at a time in order for operators to continue to operate the ride at optimal capacity they must dispatch the next set of trains before the train that just launched stacks behind the train and unload - but because the train and unload - must first unload all riders before it can advance forward this causes a delay for the three trains ahead of it which had ample time to load or unload oftentimes route operators will rush riders off the train and unload - so that they are able to dispatch the next pair of trains if you were ever rushed off the ride once you return to the unload station this is why the right attendants must then wait for all 18 of those guests to leave the unload platform entirely and the exit gates must be shut only then our operators able to give an all-clear to dispatch the next pair of trains the train that parks and unload to has such little time to complete the unload process because of five train operations whereas with six train operations the Train and unload sea would have ample time to unload like the train doesn't unload one we're running five trains is still more efficient as it allows block zones to empty faster so that trains can launch more often plus it always means the ride has a spare train available if one of the trains has an issue midday earlier and drags his career this drawback was less of an issue as ride attendants were allowed to start the dispatch sequence while riders leaving the train in unload - were still on the platform but behind the red line but over the years this policy is adjusted and that requires that all riders are completely off the platform before the dispatch sequence can begin before it works Top Thrill Dragster I always wondered why it only ran five out of its six trains but working the coaster showed me exactly why this is I highly recommend that all fans of roller coasters or fans of amusement parks try working at one there is a lot to learn that you simply can't as just an enthusiast and seeing things from behind the scenes is really cool I absolutely miss my days as a ride operator and I hope to one day operate another try applying to your local amusement park or a highly recommend Cedar Point if you're a college kid looking for a summer job that's away from home let's dig into another topic I can make this video as long as I want and I think you guys have time to watch right now swapping out Top Fuel dragsters launch system with another more reliable method seems to be a common discussion amongst roller coaster enthusiasts many often speculate the replacement of Top Fuel dragsters complex hydraulic launching system with a magnetic one however this isn't possible because of Jax's short launch track magnets are not capable of accelerating a train to such high speeds and a little space at a hydraulic launch can additionally magnets would not be capable of launching dragsters five car trains the speed either let's take a look at another intamin rollercoaster for example red forest is an intimate launching roller coaster a Ferrari land at the port of Ventura Resort in Spain the ride uses linear synchronous motors to accelerate trains from 0 to 112 miles per hour in five seconds because of the magnetic motors the ride requires a much longer launch track if the same magnet system replaced on the top dragster trains wouldn't launch to nearly the same speed they do now as a result the 420 foot tall top hat would need to be shortened considerably or the top hat would have to be pushed back further backward Gemini stands now and the launch track would have to be extended over the Midway near Magnum XL 200 additionally the trans would most likely need to be shortened from three cars of five cars as there's no way the magnetic motors would deliver enough power for a full 5 car train as things currently stand drag steer is capable of launching 60 trains an hour at most each train has nine rows and holds 18 riders each that equates to an hourly router capacity of 1080 riders now if dragsters trains were cut down to three cars this means that the ride would only have 5 rows since the first car only has one row this means that each train would only hold 10 riders and the hourly capacity would drop to 600 riders per hour if Cedar Point is truly looking for a method to improve the reliability of dragsters launch system I think they would be better off keeping the hydraulic launch and reducing the trains from 5 cars to 4 cars each each car of the Train weighs one ton or 2,000 pounds and this would help to lighten the load on the hydraulic launch motors which could increase reliability dragster actually temporarily ran like this during the 2003 seasons before the ride officially opens to the public this move would also drop each trains capacity to having 7 rows or 14 riders each in effect the rides capacity would drop from 1080 riders an hour to 840 which is much better than 600 dragster is still a very popular ride and needs all the capacity can get while operating now a compressed air launch may also work on Top Thrill Dragster as air launches can accelerate trains to speeds and even less distance than a hydraulic launch cam but I doubt the system would be much more reliable than the hydraulic system is now dota dopa fuji-q highland uses a compressed air launch and from what I saw it's not the most reliable coaster and the number of cars per train would still have to be reduced as well for dragster not to mention retrofitting the launch would cost a lot of money that the partner he puts into top coat racks there year after year so I wouldn't expect the hydraulic launch and go anywhere anytime soon so if the park decides to get rid of the hydraulic launch this would mean that they're probably getting rid of the entire which I don't see happening in this will conclude my review and analysis of Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point in Ohio I didn't go into the specifics of how the launch system itself works as there are already videos that perfectly explain that on YouTube the goal of this video is to touch more on the operational side of the ride that most people are not familiar with I hope you found the information enjoyable and feel free to discuss it in the comments below and also be sure to tell me what you think of Top Thrill Dragster I find that the ride is one of the coolest coasters out there and I love how complex of an attraction it is it's actually my favorite ride to work at and I've operated a ton of different rides and coasters in my lifetime be sure to check out the El Toro Ryan merch store for all your clothing needs and be sure to LIKE comment subscribe comment down below what drive you'd like me to do next thanks for watching everyone peace

Channel: ElToroRyan

Views: 421,499

Keywords: Roller, Coaster, Crazy, Review, Video, Top, Thrill, Dragster, World's, Worlds, Tallest, And, Fastest, Cedar, Point, Technical, Analysis, ElToroRyan, Intamin, Amusement, Park, Theme, Themepark, Theme park, Top Fuel Dragster, Fuel, Launch, 120, miles, per, hour, 420, feet, tall, fast

Id: x_j0p_0Lvao

Length: 22min 36sec (1356 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 26 2020